1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a novel method for introduction of an exogenous genetic substance or a physiologically active compound into a cell.
2. Prior Art
Heretofore, as a method for introduction of an exogenous gene into a cell, electroporation, particle gun, Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer and such have been utilized. In the case of electroporation and particle gun, small pores on the cell are opened transiently and the genetic substances are introduced into the cell. Agrobacterium mediated gene transfer system utilizes bacterial infection to introduce exogenous gene. Considering the aspect of these methods, large amount or large size of genes can be hardly introduced into the cells. Thus, the range of genes or genetic substances introduced by the conventional methods is limited.
There have been demands on development of a novel method for gene introduction. That is, such novel method should enable introduction of an exogenous gene at a larger amount than the conventional methods, and further enable introduction of a large-sized gene, which has never been introduced by the conventional methods. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for gene introduction, which can overcome such defects. Moreover, the method of the present invention can be used to introduce various physiologically active compounds into a plant.
The present inventors prepared beads having the shape of fine spherical particles and immobilized genetic substance into the beads. Then they have tried introduction of gene using such method. Incidentally, in the present specification, immobilization of an exoegnous genetic substance or a physiologically active compound means that the genetic substance or the physiologically active compound is retained inside or on the surface of the formed gel. The size of the beads of the present invention is preferably from 0.01 xcexcm to 10 xcexcm. Therefore, by using the beads of the present invention, a large amount of gene can be introduced all at once, as compared with the conventional methods. Furthermore, according to the present invention, it is possible to introduce a gene of large size or a genetic substance such as mRNA, plasmid DNA and artificial chromosomes, which could not be introduced by the conventional techniques.